In Other Words, Trump Is Stuck In A Time Warp

 But you knew that already:

While many have speculated that the Qataris have offered Trump the luxurious plane to curry favor with the famously transactional president, there may be a simpler rationale: they just don’t want it anymore.

The royals have failed to sell the plane, which was put on the market in 2020, according to an archived listing. Giving it away could save Qatar’s rulers a big chunk of change on maintenance and storage costs, aviation experts told Forbes. Making Trump happy would be an added bonus.

Qatar, which has given away another blinged-out 747 and may have mothballed two more, epitomizes the fading demand for these huge, fuel-guzzling, highly personalized airplanes. There aren’t many who want to buy them, and many of the governments and royal families who own them have been trying to ditch them over the past decade.

“Qatar, like many modern states, is shifting toward leaner, more versatile aircraft, which offer better economics and more discreet presence for official travel,” Linus Bauer, managing director of the Dubai-based aviation consulting firm BAA & Partners, told Forbes. Giving the plane to Trump would be “a creative disposal strategy” that marks “a farewell to a bygone model of geopolitical theater in the skies.”

I didn’t realize this was a much bigger plane than AFOne, though I should have since Trump complained that POTUS needs a bigger plane to keep up with the Joneses (really small dick energy). This next little factoid really raises the question of the “cost savings" in this offer:

When the plane was bought in 2012, its list price was $367 million, not including the interior, which took three years to complete and likely cost tens of millions of dollars.

And we’ll have to strip it down to the skin and start over. On a much bigger frame. So at much greater cost and effort. Think we can beat the three years it took Qatar? The expert Forbes consulted thinks it would take at least five years to get the Qatari jet ready for Presidential service. That’s starting after the plane is stripped down and cleared for security purposes. Even Boeing will have its two jets finished by then.

Unlike the passenger version of the 747-8, which can seat 467 people, the HBJ jet is a flying mansion designed for just 89 passengers, with two bedrooms, entertainment and meeting rooms, and a sumptuous beige and cream-colored interior created by the Parisian design house Cabinet Pinto that features furnishings made of sycamore and wakapou wood, silk fabrics and natural leather.

Yeah, that’s gonna need a lot of work! Besides, it’s a gas guzzler in a world of fuel efficient cars. And it’s a dinosaur, as well as a security risk:

Beyond poor fuel efficiency, large ostentatious planes are a security risk, notes Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace consultant with Aerodynamic Advisory. “These things are big targets.” And bigger planes can only land on longer runways, limiting their usage. “There are a lot more airports you can get into if you have a narrowbody, and many more still if you have a traditional business jet,” he said.

Oh, by the way, above and beyond conversion costs:

Giving the 747-8 to the U.S. would also allow the Qataris to avoid maintenance costs that are only getting higher with the 747 fleet shrinking worldwide and fewer mechanics available who know how to work on them, said John Goglia, a former airline mechanic and member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. The 2020 sales brochure noted that the plane was due for a landing gear overhaul in 2024 and a 12-year check in 2027. A check in which the airplane and engines are taken apart, typically carried out every six to 12 years, can take months to complete and cost millions of dollars. “The numbers are staggering,” said Goglia.

This is why you want to see the maintenance records before you buy the used car. Especially one somebody is giving to you.

And Trump’s jealousy of all those big Middle Eastern government jets? Qatar and the Saudis both are down to just one each in regular service. Damned things just cost too much to operate. No one wants to buy their fleet, either.

But they know a sucker when they see one.